The lift truck has become such an important piece of machine found and utilized in most warehousing and industrial operations, ever since its introduction to the market more than 90 years ago in the 1920's. Among the forklift's pioneers, Clark has grown to become an industry top supplier in the material handling business. Different other well-known names in the manufacturing of these machinery include: Nissan, Yale, Hyster Cat, Toyota and Mitsubishi.
Hyster has grown to become one of the most popular models of forklifts within the industry. As a matter of fact, in some regions, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Other common names for this industrial lifting machinery consist of: jitney, high/low, lift truck, stacker truck and fork truck.
The ancestor of today's machines was first developed in the early 19th century. At this time, small, battery-powered models were made for the purpose of moving traveler's luggage at the Altoona train station within Pennsylvania. During the First World War, several different kinds were developed in England specially to be utilized in the material handling business. These machinery evolved as a solution to the lack of manpower at that time.
Today's machines come in many sizes and configurations. Sod loaders are large truck-mounted forklift units and several of the larger equipment, whereas the smaller machinery consist of hand truck models. There are also a line of automated versions known as forklift automated guided vehicles that are basically robotic in nature. These models were made to improve production and as a means of lowering operational expenses.
A regular lift truck is able to use a wide array of attachments which are capable of being added for a range of particular functions. The motors can be IC or internal combustion models, running on propane, diesel or gasoline, or there are battery operated options that need regular charging. Typical warehouse units would usually be rated to raise between about 1 and 5 tons.
The forklift has become a priceless component within the material handling industry. Thousands of these units are utilized every day all over the globe to complete jobs that used to need a lot more man-power. Operators must take stringent training programs so as to legally and safely run these heavy machinery. A lot of employees have better health overall and longer careers now due to their not having to lift things by hand anymore as the forklifts could handle those situations now instead.